A leading cryptocurrency expert and initial coin offering (ICO) adviser has said he stands by his prediction that the value of Bitcoin could hit $60,000 this year.
Phillip Nunn is the CEO of The Blackmore Group and Wealth Chain Group and is also in high demand all over the world as a public speaker.
In January, Nunn told BusinessCloud that the price of Bitcoin will reach both $6,000 and $60,000 per coin in 2018. This week its price has plummeted.
“Well we’re certainly about to see the $6,000 aren’t we?” he told BusinessCloud at KPMG’s Tech Manchester event yesterday. “That’s probably a few hours away.
“The prediction was based on, first of all, market volatility which we’re experiencing at the moment; I think that’s really apparent. I absolutely stand by my prediction.
“What you’ve got to remember is that the sharpest comparison to crypto in recent years is the Dotcom but actually crypto is a whole industry in reverse because the initial investment into it is from the crowd.
“All the money that exists in crypto at the moment is from the public, so it’s all about market sentiment. A flood of bad news can wobble the market, stuff like regulation. The industry is so small that there’s market manipulation.”
Nunn is a passionate cryptocurrency investor and also believes that the underlying blockchain technology has the potential to disrupt every industry, and “the whole world”.
“The reality is we’re moving from an internet of information to an internet of value,” he said. “It’s going to disrupt everything; money, record-keeping, legal.
“We are moving to this much more safe and decentralised way of working.”
The entrepreneur says he speaks to major banks, hedge funds and other financial institutions on a regular if not daily basis.
According to him, they all “want a piece” of the crypto space but finding an entry point is the biggest worry.
“There’s no entry point at the moment,” he said. “If you’re a pension fund with £5 billion in your pot and you want to take a 5 per cent position in crypto you’re going to really piss your investors off because of the volatility in the market.
“The vehicles that exist in crypto at the moment aren’t suitable; you can’t be a hedge fund and get an investment like this this signed off at board level.”
In a report published by GP Bullhound last month, the investment bank claimed that up to 90 per cent of all cryptocurrencies could be wiped out in the next 12 months.
One of the key predictions of the report was that digital currencies will experience a “heavy correction” of up to 90 per cent in the next 12 months and that “very few companies” will survive.
“I’ve read the report and I think there was a little bit of sensationalism going on,” Nunn said.
“But actually I do agree. What you have is the core market like Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin and Ripple, to name a few, that are really solidified in the market. They’re the fabric of the industry, if you like.
“These guys are going to stay and the other 1,600 or 1,700 tokens that exist out there are basically an alternative to venture capital money.
“In the VC world you invest in 10, eight will fail and the two will be a Google or an Uber or an eBay.
“The reality is nobody knows how many will fail. This is different, because you’ve got guys who are raising $50 million where they’d usually raise $2 million from VCs so maybe more start-ups will succeed because they’ve got a war chest and a lot more running room.”
Nunn was speaking alongside Tech Manchester lead Patricia Keating; Jon Corner, CEO of The Landing; and Siddharth Mukne from the UK India Business Council.